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Discovery in Nanomachines within Living Organisms: Cytochromes P450 (CYP450s) Unleashed as Living Soft Robots

en.huji.ac.il /news/discovery-nanomachines-within-living-organisms-cytochromes-p450-cyp450s-unleashed
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Edit: Not sure why the original link is no longer working, but heres an alternative

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/997840

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Furry Scientists @pawb.social Tony Bark @pawb.social
Discovery of nanomachines within living organisms
7 comments
  • Couldn't access this link so used another one I looked up, but I'm not really sure what the point of this was, what they state are common features of enzymes. I suppose they are referring to how the same principles could be used to create soft robots?

    • Cytochrome p450 is one of the primary enzymes for detoxification in the liver. This study determined how it alters reaction mechanisms based only on an initial stimulus. So like a robot, it can provide a variety of functions based on its environment. One of the lead scientists in the study stated, “we have discovered that CYP450s act as soft-robot machines in 'living matters,' displaying a remarkable sensing and response-action capability. This is an exciting revelation, and we believe that similar mechano-transduction mechanisms of soft-impact cues might be at work in other soft-robot machines in nature.” I hope this helps make more sense of the research.

      • But the initial stimulus is binding to the substrate, which then catalyses the reaction, which afaik, is how all enzymes work. I'm just wondering what is special about CYP450s in this case. Also, what are the multiple functions? Surely the entire organism itself is a better example of a soft robot

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